Actions
Lesson 2
Title: What's In the Mail?
Overview & Outcomes:
In the previous lesson, Actions Lesson 1, students began to identify
actions they could take. This lesson will continue of that process.
In it, students will examine the mail (postal and electronic)
they received from outside agencies in response to the request
prepared in Foundations/Awareness Lesson 11. They will identify
any new or contradictory information on the consequences of human
impact on the atmosphere and additional actions. In addition,
students will attempt to infer the agency's position and explore
the idea that an organization's or agency's perspective is influenced
by its purpose and funding. In Actions Lesson 3 students identify
the action category for each of the actions they generated.
This lesson helps learners:
- critically examine information from a variety of organizations
and agencies.
The concept map found in Actions Lesson 1 shows model relationships
among concepts Actions Lessons 1 through 6 seek to develop.
Background Notes for the Teacher:
Content. This lesson provides the opportunity to remind
students that they should be critical consumers of information.
By identifying the source of funding and purpose of each organization,
students will be better able to evaluate the information provided.
Students should be reminded that they receive a great deal of
information from the media, newspapers, magazines, etc. Once
they are finished with their schooling, these sources may be their
primary sources of information. It is important they be critical
consumers of that information.
This lesson may be organized in several ways:
- Individually-students may analyze their mail individually,
either in class or as homework, and report to the class.
- Type of Organization-students may be grouped according to
similarities in the type of organization from which they secured
information ( for example, students who received mail from environmental
groups could be grouped together). If grouped in this way, they
may notice many similarities among the content and presentation
of the information and the recommended actions.
- Across Organization-student may be grouped such that each
group contains a student who received mail from a different type
of organization (e.g., environmental, governmental, political).
Through this grouping, student may see the differences in the
way information is presented and recommended actions.
One way to share new information obtained is to have the students
write any "new information they learned" on cards or
large pieces of newsprint paper, and post these where the entire
class examine them. New actions may be added to the ATMOSPHERIC
GASES from the previous lesson. Students who did not receive
mail may be grouped with other whose mail contains too much information
for one person to analyze.
Additional Teacher References.
Hungerford et al. (Investigating and Evaluating Environmental
Issues and Action: Skill Development Modules. Champaign,
IL: Stipes Publishing Company) has a good discussion of critically
analyzing information.
Lewis, Barbara A. (1991). The Kids Guidebook to Social Action.
Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing. $14.95, (612)
338-2068 ISBN: 0-915793-29-6
Materials:
For each group.
- Cards or newsprint paper and markers
For each student.
- Their mail
- MAIL ANALYSIS WORKSHEET
- ATMOSPHERIC GASES (from the previous lesson)
Preparation:
Look through the students' mail to see who has not received mail
and to obtain a rough idea of who will need help reviewing their
mail.
Duplicate the MAIL ANALYSIS WORKSHEET
Instructional Procedures: (1 Day, 40 minutes)
- Introduce students to the idea that each organization they
wrote to has a particular purpose, that this purpose will be reflected
in a subtle or overtly manner in information the organization
produces, and that consumers need to understand the organizations
position when consuming informational materials. Discuss some
of the ways that an organization purpose can be reflected in the
information they produce, e.g., presentation, wording, pictures,
format. Note that today they will have an opportunity to review
the mail that they received for recommended actions and new information,
but also they will need to critically review the information so
that the source organization's purpose is understood.
- Distribute the MAIL ANALYSIS WORKSHEET and explain it's
use-that.
- Place students in groups and distribute the mail to the
students:
- If review of mail was not assigned for homework, students
will be provided time to analyze their mail.
- After or in the process of reviewing the mail, student should
identify and enter onto the worksheet a) the source of funding
for the organization (if noted), b) what the student believes
is the purpose of the organization (this may not be overly presented
and have to be inferred), c) actions recommended by the organization,
d) new or additional information that is presented, and e) how
the student believes the organizations funding source or purpose
influenced the information that is presented.
- Within groups students should compare and contrast their
findings and look for similarities and differences. This might
be followed by a similar class level discussion.
Assessment/Portfolio Items:
Actual mail received by the student or some portion of it.
MAIL ANALYSIS WORKSHEET
Student Date
Name of Organization
Address of Organization
Organization's Source of Funding(s)
Purpose of Organization
Recommended Actions
New/Additional Information
How do you believe the organization's funding source or purpose
influenced the information that is presented?
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Click Here to go to Action Lesson 3: Classifying Actions
This unit was produced by the editors listed on the masthead.
